Can Kahne Dodge Darlington?

 

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Kahne continues Darlington pole mastery
By Greg Engle - Courtesy of Cup Scene Daily

You might say that Kasey Kahne still has a perfect qualifying record at Darlington.

He’s earned the top spot on each of the three occasions where Bud Pole qualifying was run, only missing out on a clean sweep when rain cancelled qualifying for the final Southern 500 in 2004.

Kahne put his #9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge on pole for the appropriately titled Dodge Charger 500 with a lap of 169.013 mph Friday evening locking up his third career pole at the 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway.

"It means a lot to win the pole for a big Dodge race,” Kahne said. “The team did a great job making the car a little better than it was in practice. The engines run great, and I'm just happy to get a Bud Pole again. It's fun to qualify at Darlington, especially when you end up up front.”

Kahne's fastest lap was nearly two tenths faster than second place qualifier Ryan Newman in the #12 Penske Racing Dodge.

Rookies occupy row two led by Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer in the best of the Chevrolets with Chip Ganassi Racing's David Stremme completing the second row, once again heading the list of non top 35 teams.

"It was pretty sporty,” Bowyer said of his qualifying run. “We had a couple spark issues in practice. We bottomed out a little too much. These guys on the Jack Daniels Chevrolet have been working hard. They make a rookie look good don't they?"

Interestingly on a track regarded as a veteran’s playground, Denny Hamlin, who won last nights Busch race, made it three rookies in the top five with fifth fastest time followed by Elliott Sadler, Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch.

Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick, three of the expected major players in tonight's 367-lap contest, will start 12th, 13th and 14th respectively with last weeks winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. set to roll off 22nd in his #8 DEI Budweiser Chevrolet.

Travis Kvapil, Derrike Cope, Stanton Barrett, Michael Waltrip, Scott Wimmer and Kevin Lepage all joined Stremme in the starting line-up for Saturday's race while Terry Labonte needed the past champions provisional to get his #44 Hendrick Chevrolet into the starting field for what will be his very last Darlington start.

Chad Chaffin; Kenny Wallace; Carl Long and Chad Blount did not make the field.

Kahne will lead the field at Darlington tonight having won two races so far in 2006; that’s three wins overall in his young career, all of those wins coming from the pole.

"Those two races we won we had to work real hard throughout the race, fall back and get back to the front,” Kahne said. “I know Darlington is going to be as tough as any track. Whether you start in the front or back it doesn't matter. It's a tough track and it can get you at any time. We're just going to try to do everything right. We had the right starting spot and the right pit stall. We've done everything right on Friday. We just have to get our car better in the final hour of practice today and hopefully we'll have a shot tomorrow night and be able to win a big race for Dodge.”

The last driver to win from the pole here though was Dale Jarrett back in 1997. Kasey has been pretty quiet the last few races, could Kahne he be ready to make some noise in a race sponsored by his car make?

"I think it's a really long race,” Kahne said. “A lot of things go on during the race. Your car can be off and there's so many pit stops because of the tires here falling off so quickly. You can help your car or hurt your car.

You have to make the right decisions and keep yourself in the right place and not get frustrated. At some point in the race, every race so far, I think we've finished third, fifth and 13th, and I've been frustrated at some point. You have to keep your head. Things change quick, especially at this track.”

Dodge Charger 400 Lineup

Greg Engle, the Editor of the Cup Scene Daily is seeking employment within the motorsports journalism industry. If you are interested, please contact him at:greg@cupscene.com